Esther Eugénie Rebecca Foa

(1799-1853)

FOA, ESTHER EUGÉNIE REBECCA (1799–1853), French author. Born in Bordeaux, Esther Foa was the first Jewess to make her name as a French writer. Under various pen names, including Edmond de Fontanes, she wrote novels and stories on Jewish themes for juveniles. Among them are Le Kiddouchim ou l'anneau nuptial des Hébreux (4 vols., 1830), La Juive, histoire du temps de la Régence (1835), and Le vieux Paris, contes historiques (1840). She later abandoned Judaism.